Detachable shield for foundation garments



May 29, 19 45.

E. R. S UTTER DETACI'IABLE SHIELD FOR FOUNDATION GARMENTS Filed May29, 1943 29 INVENTOR.

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Patented May 29, 1945 i ENT o FFioa DETAGHABLE SHIELD FOR-FOUNDATION T-For'm Foundation poration of Illinois Edward R. Sutter, Chicago, 111."; assignor to Beaus,"Inc., Chicago, Ill., a cor- Application May 29, 1943, Si n No. 488,958

fficlaims. (01.2424) v H and scope of this inventionas defined. in the v .The invention relates to a detachabIeK-shieId for afoundation garment and has asa general object=to provide anew and improved shield'of the character described. I

. .A more particular object is to provide. a shield having downwardly depending portions to lie between the legs-of the 'wearerand means anchoring around theleg holding each depending portion smoothly in position to preventthe chafing resultingfrom rubbing .of the legs directly one on the other. l l a Another object lis to provide a shield that is shapedbetween the legs, that is, a shield having agmain or central piece conformed to the space between the legs. i y

Anotherobject is to provide. a shield that is yieldable through the center, that is, longitudinally-ina front to rear direction.

,A further object is to provide a shield having a longitudinally yieldable main or central piece and depending chafe preventing portions also yieldable in the same direction: N Still another object is to provide a shield of the character described havingdepending chafe preventing portions and means extending about the thighof the wearer for anchoring the chafe preventingportions in position formed as integral extensions vof the chafe preventing portions. l r

A furtherobject is to provide a shield :ofithe character described composed of but three pieces of material with all of the pieces yieldable only in one direction, that is,,longitudinally of the central piece. 1

Other objects and advantageswill become apappended claims.

, shield comprises generally a main or. central parent from the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawing, in Whichfi r Fig; 1 is a perspective view of a shield embodying thezfeatures of this invention and illustrated trar "it is intended to cover all-modifications and.

alternat ve constructions falling within the spirit piece, generally designated ill, means at'thefront and the rear for detachablysecuring the shield to a foundation garment,-chafe preventing pore tions, generally designated 1 I, and anchoring meanstherefor, generallyxdesignated J2. The central piece 10, as best seeninzFiguc l, is shaped to conform'to the space between the legs to-have the shield. fit smoothly and comfortably and prevent folds ofexcess material which would itself chafe the wearer. .To that end, the :piece this made narrowest at approximately themidpoint and flares curvedly outwardly in hour glass fashion in both directions from. the .midpoint. The piece is symmetrical about a longitudinal center line, but not about a transverse line through the midpoint, the flare; being somewhat greater in the rear half of the piece to provide necessary fullness. By way of example, the'piece I0 is atits front end 13 here shown asin excess of twice the width at the midpoint, whilel'at its rear end Mas in excess of .threetimes the width at the midpoint.

In addition to beingthus shaped, the. piece I0 is so constructed or of such material .as to have limited stretch in alongitudinaldirection. Here-i in this isaccomplished without-the use'of rubber by: employing a material so woven ,or knit as to have this resiliency in .a longitudinal direction.

Preferably thematerial has. substantially no give in a transverse direction. These characteristics of stretch in one direction and substantially .no stretch in the opposite direction are obtained by the well known manner of weaving thematerial -With the warp threads under tension and the woofthreads laid, in not under tension. vIn the present instance, thematerial is, a jersey ,woven from threads composed of some one or moreof the cellulose derivatives. U

, 'To support the central piece H] detachablv from .a foundation garment, the front end 13 is provided with attaching means which are here shown as snap fasteners. Three apertured halves ii of such fasteners are hereshown andtheyrare secured in Well known manner directly on the piece I, which near the edge of the 'end'is reinforced by a tape l6. Cooperating with the aperturedchalves l5 of the snap fasteners are three headed halves l1 secured on a strip I8 usually secured as by sewing to, the foundation garment. ,At therear, the piece ID has, at each corner, an integral and narrow extension ii -by mean of which the rear of the shield is attached to and supported by a foundation garment. Attaching means, again shown as snap fasteners, are provided with each extension carrying at its end an apertured half 20 of such snap fastener. Each extension I9 is at the point of attachment of the fastener reinforced with a piece 2| of nonstretchable material. Cooperating with each half '20 is a headed half 22 secured on a tab 23 adapted to be attached to the foundation gar-, ment as by sewing. The employment of the integral extension I9 of the stretchable material results in a more uniform yield of the shield with ,consequent increased comfort; the extensions do not deteriorate when washed as does elastic and there is a saving of both rubber and labor.

A foundation garment in performing its function of slenderizing the hips and upper thigh naturally presses the flesh of the thigh inwardly. Even in the case of a woman of average build, and particularly in stout and fat women, this causes the flesh on the inside of the thigh to rub together in direct contact and chafe. To prevent such direct contact of the flesh is an important feature of this shield. This function is performed by the portions II. One such portion is attached to each curved side of the central piece ID to depend therefrom and lie between the thighs of the wearer when the shield is being worn. With the rubbing to which the portions II aresubjected while the wearer of the shield is walking, there is a great tendency for the portions to fold or roll up, which then is worse than no portions II at all. To prevent this the anchoring means I2 are provided. The means I2 extend about the thighs of the wearer anchoring the portions II firmly in position thus holding them against'folding or rolling and also against sliding relative to the flesh of the thighs.

Though each chafe preventing portion and the anchoring means therefor might be formed in a variety of ways, they are for economy and smoothness of fit formed from a single piece of material 24. This piece of material has a straight lower edge 25 throughout its length with a multiple curved top edge. The middle approximately one-third of the piece of material, as best seen in Fig. 1, has a concavely curved top edge 26, that is, the middle one-third of the piece of material 24 is narrowest at its approximate midpoint and then curves upwardly to apexes 21, where the piece is of maximum width, so that it may follow the central piece ID from its low midpoint upwardl to its end and still hang smooth and unwrinkled when the shield is in worn position, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3. Each piece of material 24 is throughout the length of the curved 26 sewn by an external Merrow seam 28 to one curved side of the central piece I0. From the apexes 21 each piece of material is here shown as curving sharply inwardly so as to form generally triangular shaped extensions 29 and 30 integral with the chafe preventing portion II. These extensions are of such length as to enable them to extend around the thigh of the wearer and to be secured together on the outside of the thigh. On their free ends, the extensions 29 and 30 carry cooperating fastening means which herein take the form of cooperating halves 3| and 32 of snap fasteners. Herein two such snap fasteners are shown and each extension is at its free end, over a length sufiicient to accommodate both snap fasteners, reinforced with a piece 33 of suitable non-stretchable material.

Like the piece I0, each piece of material 24,

forming the chafe preventing portion I I and the anchoring means therefor, has a limited stretch longitudinally, and preferably only longitudinally. Normally and preferably, the piece 24 is made of the same material as the piece III. In this way the portions I I are yieldable in the same direction and to the same extent as the piece In and thus, especially in view of their attachment by the Merrow seam, do not interfere with the longitudinal yielding of the central piece.

This longitudinal stretch of the piece 24 also provides the circumferential stretch desirable in the anchoring means. The size of the shield worn should be chosen with a view to having the extensions 29 and 30 and the portion II partially stretched when the shield is put on. In this way not only is a smooth fit of the portions II assured but assurance is given that the friction between the flesh and the portion I I, when thus held, will be sufficiently greater than the friction between the smooth, slippery surfaces of the two chafe preventing portions II to assure that all relative movement resulting from walking of the wearer takes place between the portions and not between a portion and the thigh that it covers.

The shield is throughout its peripheral edges bound in a suitable manner with the bottom edge 25 of each piece 24 preferably bound by a stitching of the type employed in a,Merrow seam in order not to destroy 01' interfere with the circumferential stretch of the anchoring means.

It is believed apparent from the foregoing that I have perfected a vastly improved, detachable shield for a foundation garment. This shield has a shaped construction to eliminate all excess material that might either bulk or be uncomfortable. At the same time the shield allows of complete freedom of action because of the novel use of stretchable material. Above all, the construction of the shield assures that the chafe preventing portion remains smoothly and firmly in position.

I claim as my invention:

1. .A detachable shield for a foundation garment comprising, in combination, a central piece of material extending from front to rear of the shield and stretchable in that direction, said piece being narrowest at an intermediate point and becoming progressively wider in both directions away'from the intermediate point, means at each end of said piece adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaching said-piece to the garment, an elongated piece of material sewn to each side of said central piece to depend downwardly therefrom between the thighs of the wearer when the shield is suspended from a foundation garment, each of said elongated pieces having a top edge portion curving upwardly at its ends and likewise stretchable. in the same direction as said central piece to which it is sewn, and means adapted to fasten around the thigh of the wearer for anchoring said elongated pieces in position.

2. A detachable shield for a foundation garment comprising, in combination, a central piece of material extending from front to rear of the shield, said piece being narrowest at an intermediate point and becoming progressively wider in both directions away from the intermediate point, means at each end of said piece adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaohing said piece to the garment, and means anchoring about each thigh of the wearer including an intermediate portion having an edge curving upwardly from an intermediate point and sewn one to each side of said central piece to depend downwardly between and partially around the thighs of the wearer.

3. A detachable shield for a foundation garment comprising, in combination, a shaped central portion extending from front to rear of the shield and stretchable in that direction, said portion being narrowest at an intermediate point and becoming progressively wider in both directions away from the intermediate point, means at each end of said portion adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaching the shield to the garment, and means adapted to anchor about each thigh of the wearer including an intermediate portion depending from each side of said shaped central portion to lie between and partially around the thighs of the wearer when the shield is suspended from a foundation garment, the intermediate portion of said last mentioned means in particular being stretchable circumferentially to yield with said central portion.

4. A detachable shield for a'foundation garment comprising, in combination, a central piece of material extending from front to rear of the shield, said piece being narrowest at an intermediate point and becoming progressively wider in both directions away from the intermediate point, means at each end of said piece adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaching said. piece to the garment, and a single piece of material sewn intermediate its ends and along its top edge one to each side of said central piece to provide a chafe preventing portion dehaving an intermediate portion provided with a pending downwardly between the thighs of the wearer and integral portions of the same material adapted'toextend around the thigh of the wearer for anchoring the chafe preventing portion securely in position.

5. A detachable shield for a foundation garment comprising, in combination, a central piece of material extending from front to rear of the shield, said piece being narrowest at an intermediate point and becoming progressively wider in both directions away from the intermediate point, means at each end of said piece adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaching said piece to the garment, and two similar pieces of material each integral and secured to a side concavely curved upper edge and end portions of the same material for extending around the thigh of the wearer.

,6.'A detachable shield for a foundation garment comprising, in combination, a central piece of material extending from front to rear of the shield, said piece being narrowest at an intermediate point and becoming progressively wider in both directions away from the intermediate point, means at each end of said piece adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaching said piece to the garment, and a single elongated piece of material secured to each side edge of said central piece, each of said pieces secured to said central piece having a straight bottom edge and a multi-curved top edge includ. ing a concavely curved top edge portion secured to one side of said central piece and defining an intermediate depending portion lying between and partially around the thighs of the wearer when the shield is suspended from a foundation garment and tapering integral extension portions adapted to extend around the thigh of the wearer for anchoring the chafe preventing portion against rolling and folding.

7. A detachable shield for a foundation garment comprising, in combination, a central piece of material extending from front to rear of the shield and stretchable in thatdirection, said piece being narrowest at an intermediate point and becomingprogressively wider in both directions away from the intermediate point, means at each end of said piece adapted to cooperate with means on the front and the back of a foundation garment for removably attaching said piece to the garment, and a single elongated piece of material secured to each side edge of said central piece, each of said pieces secured to said central piece being stretchable longitudinally having a straight bottom edge and a multi-curved top edge including a concavely curved top edge portion secured to one side of said central piece and defining an intermediate depending portion lying between and partially around the thighs of the wearer when the shield is suspended from a foundation garment and tapering integral extension portions adapted to extend around the thigh of the wearer for anchoring the chafe preventing portion against rolling and folding.

EDWARD R. SUTTER. 

